How do you see Donovan faring with Everton this time around?

Landon Donovan's second foray into the Premier League gets underway later today, with Everton's match against Bolton (3 p.m., Fox Soccer Plus/FoxSoccer.tv). Early rumblings have Donovan slated for the starting lineup, though that has yet to be announced publicly by Everton.

Wednesday's game is the first of nine matches in which Donovan will be eligible to play under the terms of his two-month loan to the Toffees, where his return has generated quite a buzz. Donovan scored two goals and helped spark Everton while becoming a popular figure at Goodison Park his last time on loan, and he'll look to light a fire under an Everton attack that has struggled to just 19 goals in 18 games — tied for second worst in the league.

In addition to Bolton, Donovan will get the chance to play against Tottenham, Aston Villa, Blackburn, Manchester City, Wigan Athletic, Chelsea and Liverpool in league play along with Tamworth in the FA Cup.

How do you see Donovan doing during this loan stint? Cast your vote after the jump:

I admire Landycakes for doing his own thing instead of listening to what people think is best for him.

But I’m still one of those people…him never making the permanent move back to Europe is criminal in my opinion. People say it hasn’t hurt his national team play but we can and will never really know that. Who can say whether he’d be as good or even better if he had done the smart thing and left MLS instead of signing his last contract?

i just hope he doesn’t get hurt, lets face it everton are a middling club and if they wanted donovan so badly they would have bought him out right they didn’t and he’s still making millions don’t see how anyone can fault the guy.

+1. I suppose I could pay $20 — 1/4th of my total current bill for cable and internet access — for foxsoccer.tv, but then headline matches on Fox Soccer will still be delayed. For those, I’d need to spend another $15 for FSC (in STANDARD FREAKING DEFINITION) plus a dozen other sports package channels I have no interest in.

friggin agreed. I finally let loose and ordered the sports pack that includes FSC so I was disappointed to find out there’s a plus channel that costs 15 extra. and no I don’t want to see games on my laptop that’s why I bought a big screen and why I pay for HD too! seriously ridiculous and this time I feel entitled to catch an illegal stream to watch the game.

even though landon is good for MLS he’s done enough there. i love to see him in the best league in the world and as we can see he was able to fit that standard last time around. i hope (if he has a good run this time too) that he stays in the BPL.

i wish i could watch the game today — why couldnt the match be on FSC..damn fox soccer plus!

I usually don’t disagree with your posts, kpugs, but your last question is a little lacking in balance… you are correct – we will never, ever know what effect making a permanent move to Europe (if such a move was actually on the cards) would have had on his game… In the same way we will never, ever know if doing so would have been the “smart” move. We will never, ever know… the best we can do as fans is wonder. Nothing more, nothing less.

It’s a pointless argument that really should be left for dead at this point. He didn’t go. I personally think he would have done well in Europe or elsewhere given his particular skill set and style of play. However, given that same skill set and style of play, I don’t agree that playing in Europe would have resulted in the landslide improvements to the USMNT that some seem to think. He would not have morphed into Messi by moving abroad. He may have improved, but only marginally over the gains made by staying in MLS.

Trust me…I’m one who sees the extreme value in both players for their unique attributes. Just a Fulham fan in the end.

On a side bar…it’s nice to see players from MLS going straight over to England and hopefully jumping right into games. Henry, Donovan, and maybe more before it’s over. Shows MLS does have quality to a certain extent.

I don’t think Donovan will fare as well. He’s a couple of years older coming off a long MLS season where he suffered with niggling injuries and Everton isn’t nearly as good.
I rate Donovan as a player, I just don’t see the sequel being as good as the original.

I’m pretty sure that the Fox Plus deal is still leftover from the firm that went belly up in Europe (Sentana maybe?). Thus, Fox doesn’t get to pick and choose what games go where. That was done when the original deal went through.

I think he’ll be asked to fill a different role this time around. Before he was asked to be a supporting player, and he filled that role superbly, being one of the big reasons why the team was so successful during his run there. Given Everton’s struggle to score goals this season, I think Donovan will be asked to play a larger role. He will definitely help the team, and I think he’ll score more goals than the first time around, but they’ll have trouble duplicating the results of that first loan spell.

I love how everyone assumes the bigger challenge is playing on a team that is in 11th-15th place and going nowhere ( unless you count moving up to 7th-10th as somewhere ) is a bigger challange than winning a title, winning CONCACAF, etc.

I disagree. Yes, I understand there are better players in that league, but these are no stress games for him. Whether permanent or temporary, he will make the team better pretty easily.

I’d love to see this loan end in a buyout of his L.A. contract. Signing that extension prior to WC 2010 so that he could get the first loan was one of the worst moves I’ve ever seen. Yes, it guaranteed him money with L.A. until 2013, but at what cost? A move to an EPL club back in 2009/10 would have been hugely beneficial to his development as a player…it’s always advantageous to play week in and week out against more skilled competition. It’s done wonders for Dempsey’s career. Landon has one more WC, MAYBE two if he can avoid major injury, and an EPL move certainly has the potential to make him an even more dangerous option for us in the midfield.